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A train of emigrants, from
Missouri
and
Arkansas, for this State, were waylayed and cruelly butchered on the route, at a place called Santa Clara
Cañon, near the rim of the Great Basin, about 300 miles from
Salt Lake City. The scene of the massacre is differently designated as Santa Clara Cañon, the Mountain Springs, and the Mountain Meadows. But all agree in
locating it near the rim of the Great Basin, and about fifty miles from
Cedar City, the most southern of the Mormon settlements.
Of a party of about 130 persons, only fifteen infant children were saved.
The account was given by the
Indians themselves to the Mormons at Cedar
City, to which place they brought the children, who were purchased from
them by the people of that city. Whether the cause assigned is sufficient
to account for the result, or whether a different cause is at the bottom
of the transaction, we will leave the reader to form his own conclusion.
We can scarcely believe that a party traveling along a highway would act
in the manner described, that is to poison the carcass of an ox, and also
the water, thus endangering the lives of those who were coming after them.
Yet this is the story told by all who have spoken of the massacre. It is
stated, the emigrants had an ox which died, and they placed poison in the
body and also poisoned the water standing in pools, for the purpose of
killing the
Indians; that several of the tribe had died from this cause,
and that the whole force mustered, pursued the train, and coming up with
them at the above named place, which favored their purpose, attacked and
murdered the whole party, except a few infant children. The
Indians state
that they made but one charge on the party, in which they cut off the
greater portion of the men, and then guarded the outlets of the cañon, and
shot the men and women down as they came out for water; that one man was
making his escape with a few children, and they followed him, killed him,
and took the children fifteen in number, the eldest under five years of
age. The report was brought to
San
Bernardino by Messrs. Sidney Tanner and
W. Mathews.
The following letter from Mr. J. W. Christian,
of
San
Bernardino, to Mr. G. N. Whitman, of this city, has been kindly
placed at our disposal, and we give it at length, as it is the fullest
report of the massacre, and the cause which led to it, that has reached
us. The writer seems to intimate that the Mormons will be held responsible
for the murder, and in this respect he is fully borne out by present
indications, for a general belief pervades the public mind here that the
Indians were instigated to this crime by the “Destroying Angels” of the
church, and that the blow fell on these emigrants from
Arkansas, in
retribution of the death of Parley Pratt, which took place in that State.
The truth of the matter will not be known until the Government make an
investigation of the affair. This should be done, to place blame in the
right quarter, as well as to inflict chastisement on the immediate actors
in the fearful-tragedy, who are reported to be the Santa Clara tribe of
Indians. The following is the letter:
San Bernardiono, October 4th, 1857:
I take this opportunity of informing you of the murder of an entire train
of emigrants, on their way from
Missouri and
Arkansas to this
state, via
Great Salt Lake City; which took place, according to the best information
I can possibly acquire, at the
Mountain Meadows, which are at or near the rim of the Great Basin, and
some distance south of the most southern Mormon settlements, between the
10th and 12th of last month. It is absolutely one of the most horrible massacres
I have ever had the painful necessity of relating.
The company consisted of about 130 or 135 men, women and children, and
including some forty or forty-five capable of bearing arms. They were in
possession of quite an amount of stock consisting of horses, mules and
oxen. The encampment was attacked about daylight in the morning, so say
the
Indians, by the combined forces of all the various tribes immediately
in that section of the country. It appears that the majority of them were
slain at the first onset made by the
Indians. The remaining forces formed
themselves into the best position there circumstances would allow; but
before they could make the necessary arrangement for protecting themselves
from the arrows, there were but few left who were able to bear arms. After
having corralled their wagons, and dug a ditch for their protection, they
continued to fire upon the
Indians for one or two days, but the
Indians
had so secreted themselves that, according to their own statement, there
was not one of them killed, and but few wounded. They (the emigrants) then
sent out a flag of truce, borne by a little girl, and gave themselves up
to the mercy of the savages, who immediately rushed in and slaughtered all
of them, with the exception of fifteen (actually 17) infant children, that have since
been purchased, with much difficulty, by the Mormon interpreters.
I presume it would be unnecessary, for all practical purposes, to relate
the causes which gave rise to the above described catastrophe, from the
simple fact that it will be attributed to the Mormon people, let the
circumstances of the case be what they may. But it seems, from a statement
which I received from Elders Wm. Mathew and William Hyde, who were in Great
Salt Lake City at the time the train was there, recruiting their “fit
out;” and were on the road to this place at the time when they were
murdered, but several days' journey in the rear-somewhere about the Beaver
Mountains, which is between Parawan and Fillmore cities -- that the causes
were something like these: The train camped at Corn Creek, near Fillmore
City, where there is an
Indian village, the inhabitants of which have
raised a crop of wheat and a few melons. And in trading with the
Indians they gave them cash for wheat, and they not knowing the value of
coin were severely cheated. They wanted a blanket for a sack of wheat, but
they gave them fifty cents, and told them that amount would buy a blanket.
They also had an ox with them which had died, and they put strychnine in
him, for the purpose of poisoning the
Indians; and also put poison of some
description in the water, which is standing in holes. This occasioned
several deaths among them, within a few days after the departure of the
train. And upon this, it seems, the
Indians gathered themselves together,
and had, no doubt chose the place of attack, and arranged everything
before the train arrived at the place where they were murdered.
It was ascertained by some of the interpreters, from a few of the
Indians
who were left at Corn Creek, that most of the
Indians in the country had
left; but they could not learn for what purpose, and before any steps
could be taken to ascertain for certain what was the cause, the story was
told-they were all killed.
Yours truly, J. Ward Christian
~~~~~~
The Immigrant Massacre, Daily Alta, San Francisco, October 17, 1857
This morning, while conversing with some immigrants, who have lately
arrived via the Plains from
Arkansas, and are living within a few miles of
this place, I related to them the circumstances of the massacre. They
immediately informed me that they knew who the parties were. They stated
that there were three, and perhaps four, companies from
Arkansas, while
the balance of the company was made up of
Missourians, who fell in with
them; of these latter, they knew nothing, but the
Arkansas companies,
consisted of Fanchers, Camerons and the two Dunlaps, and perhaps Bakers.
They were from the counties of Marion, Carroll and Johnson. They say when
they saw them, they were encamped six miles from
Salt Lake City, that they
had been there for some time, and that they intended to stay there until
the weather got cool enough for them to come by the South Pass, expecting
to make a stay of eight weeks all together. Baker had not arrived there
when they left, but as they can learn nothing from him or his company,
they concluded that he had fallen in and decided to come into
California
with these companies. The two Dunlaps had each nine children , some of
them well grown. If these are the persons who were slaughtered, who can be
so blind as not to see that the hands of Mormons are stained with this
blood. How could so large a company remain among them for two months and
they not learn one name? and why would the
Indians kill every being,
except those that were too young to communicate anything to their
friends, or hardly tell a name, or tell who were the murderers of their
parents, and brothers and sisters; or even discriminate between white men
and
Indians? Why all this concealment? and in the very face of it, the
Indians tell what they have done and sell all their spoils to the whites.
It will do to lay this blood upon them, but I feel certain that
investigation will throw it off.
~~~~~~
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